80s were not Tortorous down South!!
iView Author: SRIDHAR MAYUR (Hyderabad, India)
Email: mayursridhar[at]gmail.com
“While the Bollywood cinema was churning out ‘torture series’ in the 80’s we had a wonderful set of filmmakers in the South who had something better and different to offer….from the likes of K.Vishwananth to Mani Ratnam…real gem of films were being made and catered to a wonderful set of audience which willfully turned them into blockbusters….some films were also remade in Bollywood, but then they flopped big time…the film im talking about is “Eshwar”, and the original was a masterpiece from K.Vishwananth…it was ‘Swathi Muthyam’
Let me just list of some* wonderful films made down south in the 80’s
By K Vishwanath
Subhalekha (1982)
Saagara Sangamam (1983)
Swathi Muthyam (1985)
Siri vennela (1986)
Srutilayalu (1987)
Swayamkrushi (1987)
Swarna Kamalam (1988)
Sutradharulu (1990)
By BharatiRaja
En Uyir Thozhan (1990)
Jamadagni (1988)
Aradhana (1987)
Vedham Pudhithu (1987)
Kadolara Kavithaigal (1986)
Saveray Wali Gaadi (1986)
Ee Tharam Illalu (1985)
Muthal Mariyathai (1985)
Yuvadharam Pilisindi (1985)
Oru Kaidhiyin Diary (1984)
Mann Vasanai (1983)
Pudumai Penn (1983)
Kathal Ovium (1982)
Seethakoka Chilaka (1981)
By Mani Ratnam
Mouna Raagam (1986)
Nayagan (1987)
Agni Natchathiram (1988)
Geethanjali (1989)
Anjali (1990)
Thalapathi (1991)
By Jandhyala
Nalugu Sthambhalata (1982)
Rendu Jalla Seetha (1983)
Sreevariki Prema Lekha (1984)
Ananda Bhairavi (1984)
Chantabbai (1986)
Aha Naa Pellanta (1987)
Vivaha Bhojanambu (1988)
Jayammu Nishayammura (1989)
By Singeetham Srinivasa Rao
Raaja Paarvai (1981)
Mayuri (1984)
Pushpak (1988)
Apoorva Sahodarargal (1989)
Michael Madana Kamarajan (1991)
Aditya 369 (1991)
By Ram Gopal Varma
Shiva (1989)
Kshana Kshanam (1990)
All these films were not just movies, but were inspired by many in the days to come to make more path-breaking movies. Most of the movies were cult movies which gave others an insight into the wonderful world of movie making. Lets look into details of some of these cult movies…
1. Swathi Muthyam (1985) is a Telugu film directed by K. Viswanath. The movie won accolades at the Asian Film Festival in both “Best Movie” and “Best Actor(Kamal Hassan)” categories. The movie is about an autistic person who happens to defy existing social customs and traditions for a good cause. The movie was chosen to be India’s official entry to the Oscars for 1986
2. “Ou Kaidhiyin diary – starring Kamalahasan(1984)” was remade as Aakhree Raasta (English: The Last Option) in 1986 where Amitabh Bachchan is seen in a dual role with Sridevi, Anupam Kher and Jayapradha; It garnered many state awards, it was the masala flick of the year.
3. Anjali (Tamil) is a 1990 Tamil-language Indian feature film directed by Mani Ratnam, starring Raghuvaran, Revathi, Tarun, Shruti and Shamili. The film’s score and soundtrack is composed by Ilaiyaraaja, being his 500th movie. Anjali is about a dying autistic child, and the emotional trauma experienced by her family. The film was dubbed into Telugu and released with the same name(Won – Silver Lotus Award – Best Regional Film (Tamil) – Anjali – Mani Ratnam)
4. Ananda Bhairavi is a 1984 Indian film directed by Jandhyala. It starred Girish Karnad, Malavika, and Rajesh; Ramesh Naidu was the music director. ‘Ananda Bhairavi’ won Jandhyala, who is known as the king of comedy in Tollywood, the State Government’s golden Nandi award. It also won the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film.
5. Pushpaka Vimaana (Kannada: English title: The Love Chariot) or just Pushpak for subsequent films in other languages is a black comedy Indian film released in 1988. Set in an large unnamed Indian city (shot in Bangalore), the film is based on the king-for-a-day story. The film is notable for its inventive recasting of the silent movie form. This movie was released in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam. Though shot in color and featuring incidental noise, the film does not have any dialogues. However, unlike classic silent movies, the film has very little mouthing of dialog; instead, clever cinematography, implicit and physical communication, and creating scenes or shots where a dialog would plausibly be absent are used. Additionally, crafty camera placement is sometimes employed to rationalize the inaudibility of dialog.It won the 1988 National Film Award for Best Popular Film.
There are more wonderful films made in Kannada and Malayalam…Would make an effort to get more info on those as well in my next article….”
Tags: bharati raja, jandhyala, mani ratnam, siri vennela, subhalekha, swayam krushi
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Excellent list. Thanks for all the recommendations. I’ve seen many of these films (Ananda Bhairavi, Swathi Muthyam, Anjali) and would love to see everything else you’ve listed.
But treat the “torture series” thing as so much hyperbole. There were plenty of very accomplished and interesting films being made in Hindi as well, by directors such as Sai Paranjapye, Shyam Benegal, Sudhir Mishra, etc.
Oh, the irony! The darkest days of mindless Indian cinema just happened to be dominated by South Indian filmmakers, with the Jeetendra-bandar brigade at the helm.
Sridhar , thanks for taking me on a 80’s trip. Those were the days i used to avoid Bollywood flicks, because the vast majority of them were roobish( as Geoff Boycott says) and pure torture. That was the time i wud watch more Telugu and Tam, Kannada, Mallu movies( most of em dubbed). Even the Telugu masala flicks of the 80’s were more entertaining and had better stories than most of the 80’s Bollywood flicks.
KV of course was my eternal favorite. Sirivennela, was a very underrated movie. KV gave a very sensitive depiction of the relationship between a blind person and a mute person. And of all the songs in it loved “Adi bhikshuvu vaadu emi koredhi”.
Swayam Krushi was good to a large extent, but somehow lost its way later. BTW Chiru’s Pasivaadi Pranam, is still one of my favorites.
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Among Bharatiraja movies, you forgot to mention Tik,Tik,Tik, i still feel one of the best thrillers made to date.
Pushpak, Nayakan and Apoorva Sahadoragal are evergreen classics.
Swathi Kiranam is my favorite film of K.Vishwanath
Why nothing about malayalam movies… 80’s where the most wonderful time malayalam films ever had. It was the era reigned by masters like padmarajan bharathan aravindan and all… They were all intelligent filmmakers and intelligent films. and the pathetic bollywood couldn’t even touch them at that time…lots and lots of film of that time got remade into numerous other language films… Many with success many without.its getting remade even now…even priyadarsan is from that time and he is remaking those 80’s flicks into bollywood now… Belive their originals were not this bad. Priyadarsan poisoned many. It was the time malayalam films used to sweep all national awards.mallu film industry were the place for experimental films and the best part was people accepted all those, they were all boxoffice hits.
Why come i didn’t see any posts in pfc about malayalam films…? Somebody write something… This is not a bollywood only blog… Well i think i have to write one now…
@ Sridhar- that was a nice reminder of some of the good movies in Tamil & Telugu of the 1980’s.
What is remarkable about filmmakers like Manirathnam,K.Vishwanath,Bharatiraja & Singeetham Srinivasa Rao in particular was that their movies made inroads across South India & made them popular names among everyone.But Saveray Wali Gaadi mentioned by you among Bharatiraja’s movies was a hindi movie ( Sunny Deol,Amrita Singh) & a remake of his own tamil movie- Kizhakke Pogum Rail.
Firstup, apologies for late replies to the comments…I am very happy to see around 200 views for my post…Thanks to all!
@Dewi – Thank you. You know what…I used the word ‘tortorus’ for films in Hindi in 80s coz ive seen many many posts on the same in PFC and it was like a synonym here. So kinda used it. Nothing particular and yes as you mentioned there were great movies being made by “Paranjapye, Shyam Benegal, Sudhir Mishra et al”…but most of them bit the dust when it came to box office.
@ Hey Ratnakar, remember me( I mentioned myself as a ‘fan’ of your articles…yes its me ). And thanks for the reply. Could have mentioned Tik, Tik, Tik…yep!
@ Chetan, yes I am a fan of Malayalam movies as well. I am a great fan of Adoor Gopalakrishnan. I did mention in my post in the end ‘There are more wonderful films made in Kannada and Malayalam…Would make an effort to get more info on those as well in my next article….’
@Sethu – Thanks mate!
and…@Sudhir – Yes, and also the irony is till date the brand that you are talking about is making senseless, mediocre and B Grade movies which run only in those sections. And I can challenge you(If you have seen the movies Ive mentioned). They can never get into the list for eternity. And, I am talking about films here not about people.
awesome list. it was a great time for telugu cinema – it actually saddens me to see that, there are not many directors ( with the exception of few) who can match the caliber of those movies. Its all glitz and no substance these days.
awesome list man….i saw only some tamil films u mentioned here..but will chk others soon
BUT i saw all the Telugu films u mentioned here…and i must they were all superb.
1950’s and some films in 1960’s,1980’s(were the best years for TELUGU CINEMA) many movies during those times were on par with hollywood movies.
and now some movies post 2000(tnx 2 directors like shekar kammula and chandrashekar yeleti)
and yaa i forgot 2 say abt
kamal hassans role in swatimutyam was made in 1980’s were as tom hanks character was simililar in forest gump.
Simply i am the divine lover of the telugu music of 1960, 1970 and 1980s only. When i feel fear, failure of the things i get power through the music contributed by the great musicians like Ramesh Naidu, Saytyam, Rajan Nagendra, BV Rahghavulu, SP BALU, Ilay, MS Viswanath, KV Mahadevan and many other musicians and directors of that age. Balus is the gift of god to teulugu people. Finally i pray the god for the safe of those people who are presently taking careo of the music of 1960/1970s and 1980s.
Dr.Y.SOMU NAIDU